Daniel Avery: 303, Williamson Tunnels, Liverpool

As Daniel Avery stopped by the Williamson Tunnels to cloak the 303 crowd in swathes of sublime techno, Getintothis’ Ste Knight was there to soak up the atmosphere

If you’ve been following our live club reviews of late, then you’ll know how much this writer loves the nights that 303 put on. This particular evening kept up the tradition of complete and utter bawlin’-ness as the team behind one of Liverpool’s biggest and best parties brought Daniel Avery into town for a seven-hour journey through the entire techno landscape.

PhantasySound‘s Daniel Avery has won a place in the hearts of dance music lovers far and wide since the release of his Drone Logic album back in 2013. With an already impressive back-catalogue of singles, compilations and mixes under his belt for one so young, there was never any chance that he was going to disappoint. He didn’t.

Even his remix collection, titled New Energy, featuring re-rubs by the likes of Factory Floor, Silent Servant, and Audion, is a brilliant listen, and well worthy of a play through in its entirety just to hear how other artists interpret work of such magnitude.

Daniel‘s production skills translate perfectly into DJing abilities, as he layers wonderfully rich textures upon one another, creating a soundscape that absorbs the listener, taking them by the hand on a journey over towering mountains of static, and plunging them head-first into deep pools of electronic ambiance.

Avery started things off with a beatless, ethereal sonic soup, before dropping us into some stripped back, downtempo tech to get the crowd warmed up. It wasn’t long before we were sitting around the 130bpm mark, and, from there, rarely seemed to drop below it. Tracks like DSCRD‘s The Dawn took us down the techno route, one which extended way into the distance before us.

DJ Blue‘s Lose the North kicked in as we were heads down, fists pumping, and baying for more. More we received, as we were sent Through the Rings of Saturn. Konstantin Sibold‘s Mutter had arms raised to the brick curve of the tunnels above our heads, and acidic Scfgm-08 threatened to bring them down on top of us. Daniel‘s set was quite the education, and finishing on Gui Boratto‘s stunning rework of Bomb The Bass’ Black River was an inspired choice if ever there was one.

What is always quite surprising about sets of this nature, those of this length, are that in the hands of a real maestro they never become boring or tiresome. This was certainly the case with Avery, as the continuous twists and turns in his repertoire for the evening kept the crowd on their toes throughout. All-in-all, we were treated to a set by a master craftsman, someone with a keen ear for what works well, and when, and who can read the crowd as though we were a Ladybird book. Stunning.

Next up 303 are bringing Detroit techno wizard Robert Hood to the tunnels on July 30, which is likely to be pretty goddam special too. Hood‘s set is scheduled for the evening section of their full-day Summer party, with the afternoon session provided by 303 rezzies on the patio at Parr Street’s The Attic. Last year’s all-dayer with Hardfloorwas fucking boss, so get yourself down for twelve hours of unadulterated pleasure. See you all there.